Previous work at the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station contributed to
the development of an early weaning program (see 1984 Dairy Day, Report of
Progress 460). This program involves the use of a prestarter, which is a specially
prepared feed intended to encourage early dry feed consumption and rumen
development. Because all of the carbohydrate in the prestarter is lactose and
because the rumen of the very young calf is not adapted to utilization of starch,
rapid fermentation might cause excessive acidity in the developing rumen, a
condition that might be avoided by adding a buffer to the prestarter. This
experiment was conducted to test that hypothesis.